Lori

Trouble is, Lv, they only have to go back to 2006 to see four blackouts out of eight regular-season games.

Come to find out, the NFL Network is PISSED, because Gru was supposed to start working for them this week. This, per Peter King's MMQB.

41 to 86 percent between a Friday and a Monday in March, Lurker. Don't think that was the draft.

Actually, according to someone in the ticket office, the Bills were below a 50 percent season renewal rate the day before they signed Owens ... in fact, weren't you the one who originally posted that?

Great point, scribo. Even if Hargrove did sign off, yeah, there could be some unintended consequences for Brown's actions.

Safe guess.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story?id=090...mp;confirm=true Roger Goodell will hold a press conference at 12:30 to address the agreement, with a live feed available on NFL.com.

Can't disagree with that, Sphere. I don't know -- this might be a borderline call for me. But for all we know, maybe Chris did ask him if it was OK to use ...

I haven't talked to him about it, but I doubt it. He was more than willing to discuss the situation on the record, even though he knew Chuck was recording the conversation. On the other hand, some of the people he talked about probably aren't real happy with it. That's their problem.

It depends on what the conversation was like, I suppose. Was it part of a formal interview, or two guys shooting the breeze on a slow day at practice, or ...? For him to use it, he must believe Hargrove won't have a problem with it. I'm in a different situation -- because I cover mainly preps, there's a TON of stuff I can't/won't go into detail about, because you just don't do that to high school kids. On a somewhat related note, Chuck Pollock wrote a column yesterday from an interview with a prep football coach. Touchy subject -- the guy was essentially forced out of the job at his alma mater, a couple of months after being asked to coach the Pennsy squad in this year's Big 30 Game. I was standing a few feet away while they talked, and Chuck asked him at least twice if he was OK with this info ending up in the paper ...

Ain't it great?

Their single-game sales suck. The only reason they didn't black out any games last year (although two or three games came close) was the appearance of both Pittsburgh and Green Bay on the schedule. Fans from those teams bought seasons to get their game, then tried to dump the rest.

Over two years. That would include the 2007 season, correct? 9/13/2007: Jaguars game blacked out in Jacksonville, Savannah, elsewhere 10/11/2007: Sunday’s game blacked out 11/23/2007: Jaguars game blacked out And I hate to tell you this, but unlike Owens, Tebow won't be available as a free agent. (edit: clarified last line)

Sadly, Empire went away in early 2005, one of many victims of the Adelphia mess. When the new directors came in, they didn't give a crap about keeping the station running: Will there ever be anything to replace it? Unlikely, unless someone with a lot of money to burn decides they need a new project. (Realistically, Empire never gets off the ground if John Rigas doesn't a.) love sports, and b.) need programming for his cable systems.) Time Warner Cable did start SportsNet. But in talking to their director, Steve Arvan, he has no interest in streaming shows online (and probably not in satellite either, although we didn't really discuss that). His responsibility is to his cable customers.

Unless he used a pseudonym, as far as I know, the only time he ever posted was the "thank you" thread he started when he signed with WGR. We certainly supplied our share of topics to the Simoncast, though.

Thanks, Mighty. That was worth a chuckle or two.

Jaguars behind in ticket sales, blackouts loom Sounds like plenty of good seats available for the Bills' visit down there. (Hat tip to Paul Kuharsky's AFC South blog for the link.)

Tell me again why people dig this Twitter thing? I could never do this, because I need to type in English ...

They absolutely did NOT agree to it as a bargaining chip. In fact, some of the players wanted to include even harsher punishment, including a three-strikes-and-you're out provision: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7031402709.html

Are you serious? It's the keystone of Goodell's legacy, and the players are on board. http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=67753

They are the rightsholder, so that would make sense.

Doesn't "hurt" anything, but it is kind of amusing to think that a scene in a "reality" show might have been staged. Say it ain't so! (Of course, that last part was totally sarcastic.) This was apparently on the post-show podcast, not on the air. But when the morning crew gives a shoutout like that, or one of the local TV sportscasters tells me TBD is his home page ... yeah, that's still kind of cool after all these years.

Crickets.

Stroud was apparently in attendance, but not participating. Might just be to keep the big guy healthy, or get some of the other guys some extra reps.

The Circus Has Arrived Highlights: the T.O. media gaggle, Schobel's return to the field, and a few no-huddle snaps. Walker has been told he's the LT. Also, Rhodes and McIntyre were the only two vets not in attendance.